Protecting culture and rights

DENVER – Language, culture and stories: these are part of what some tribes want to be considered as intellectual property rights.

The question has arisen, however, whether an individual can use an oral story that has been handed down for many generations and turn it into a written work without infringing on intellectual property rights.

Some stories are rewritten as the writer’s version, or for artistic reasons. Does the family or the tribe own the rights to that story?

They should, some tribal officials argue.

When the original words that make up a story were uttered a long time ago within the context of a given culture, it is the obligation of descendants of those in the hearing of that story to continue to pass down the story and adhere to the meaning of the original words, not to put it into writing or change it, cultural protectors claim.

Tribes have the right to pass codes that protect their property rights, and if what they protect is important to them they have a right to protect those property rights, officials said at the 64th annual National Congress of American Indians convention in mid-November. The Committee on Human Rights, Religion and Culture held the discussions.

There are open areas all across the country where battles, treaty meetings, tribal gatherings and even massacres occurred that are now nothing more than grazing pastures. The protection and acknowledgement of those sites is important to the people who protect the culture of those nations affected by such events.

The stories of those locations are still numerous and important to descendants. Some of those people are lineal descendants, but nonetheless they want to be recognized. The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act does recognize lineal descendants, but it is not enforced, tribal leaders claim.

Lineal descendancy is especially important to the Palouse people, who are now mostly enrolled in other tribes but still have a connection to the land and area that was their homeland in the Northwest.

The Palouse do not have a formal government or governing body, and are not a federally recognized tribe, but they want to be included in any negotiation that concerns repatriation so they can reclaim their ancestors’ remains.

NAGPRA states that the federal government must negotiate with lineals, which are listed first, and tribal governments where the repatriation of human remains and sacred objects are concerned. The federal government, however, negotiates more with tribes because of the government-to-government relationship.

”We want NAGPRA to do what it says it will do, and they [the federal government] are not abiding by the law,” said Carrie Schuster, Palouse.

”They are trying to get around lineals and now they are wanting to kick us out.”

She said the government and others are going to have to deal with lineals, someone who speaks the language and uses the land.

Schuster has maintained a portion of the Palouse homeland along the Snake River. The Palouse lost land when dams along the river were constructed, leaving only a small portion that is owned by Schuster and other Palouse.

The Palouse lost much of their land to the 1887 Allotment Act.

The family of well-known elder and Palouse spokesman Mary Jim Chapman were also forced out of their homeland in 1959 because the Snake River dams were covering the Palouse homelands.

That same year, Chapman saw anthropologists digging up the graves of her ancestors that were in the way of the newly created reservoirs. It wasn’t until 32 years later that she and her daughter, Carrie, were able to bring some of their ancestors home.

Many Palouse return every year to the banks of the Snake River to celebrate their life and those of their ancestors. Schuster organizes the ”Return to the Snake River” Palouse memorial dinner each year, a time for the band descendants to reclaim their ancestral lands, participate in ceremonies and honor the ancestors.

The goal is to have the Palouse ancestral lands returned to the Palouse people who have maintained the language and the stories. Many of the treaties signed in the Northwest were signed by Palouse leaders who were members of other tribes at the time.

Schuster said the Palouse have a voice wherever they are and the children are taught to speak as their elders would.

The Palouse want the federal government and others to recognize the fact that they have a homeland and can take care of the land and the culture, even though many are lineal descendants. They also want the sacred sites protected and any artifacts repatriated to them. But lineal descendants rarely have that opportunity.

If the Palouse fail to take responsibility today, they may perpetuate a trend that takes away the stewardship of their homeland and it will be given over to government institutions and bureaucracies, Schuster said.

Many of the off-reservation cultural resources have fallen into neglect and mismanagement, such as the huckleberry, root fields, fish and wildlife.

The Wowyick-ma Nah-Khee-um (Palouse) know their culture and will defend that culture and the land on which their ancestors called the homeland.

The next generation, the Palouse claim, will know who they are because they will know the history. Through oral history, the lineal descendants pass along the stories of their ancestors.

Schuster said the Palouse have a designated site where human remains can be returned to their rightful place in their homeland. They have a repository for records and educational materials and they continue to educate the children. They also have land that will eventually become home to the traditional longhouse.